Young pros are worthy of praise

Congratulations to the winners, the runners-up and all the nominees in the 10 to Watch competition honoring the most promising young professionals in the Seacoast in 2014.

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seacoastonline.com

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Posted May. 18, 2014 at 2:00 AM

Posted May. 18, 2014 at 2:00 AM

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Congratulations to the winners, the runners-up and all the nominees in the 10 to Watch competition honoring the most promising young professionals in the Seacoast in 2014.

Seacoastonline.com, the Web site for Seacoast Media Group and all of its newspapers, is proud to partner with young professionals network Catapult Seacoast to create and run the first-year competition, which culminated with the announcement of the 10 winners on Wednesday night at Demeters Steakhouse in Portsmouth.

Our goal is to raise the profile of the 10 to Watch winners and all contestants, inspiring people to do more great work for the benefit of the local community.

The contributions of the winners and many nominees is impressive.

One great example is Top 10 winner Adam Schroadter, 34, a Republican state representative from Newmarket and purveyor of Stone Church Music Club, where he teams to host events for causes, from combating children's cancer to boosting local music and art. He is also co-founder of the farmers market in Newmarket, a committee member for the Piscataqua Region Estuary Partnership, board member for the New Hampshire Film Commission, founder of the New Hampshire Oyster Festival and a Newmarket Planning Board member.

Kelly Glennon, 35, another Top 10 winner, is vice president of risk management for Federal Savings Bank. She started as a part-time teller in 1997 when she was a University of New Hampshire student. In 2007, she became the youngest member of the executive management team the bank had ever seen. Her community involvement list includes volunteering in leadership roles for the Cochecho Arts Festival, Apple Harvest Day, Cochecho Valley Humane Society, Greater Dover Chamber of Commerce, United Way of the Greater Seacoast and the American Cancer Society Relay for Life.

J.T. O'Donnell, founder and chief executive officer of CAREEREALISM Media, was part of the judges panel that selected the contest winners. The panel included four women and three men, all local leaders who exemplify the same characteristics the younger contest winners are striving to achieve. They were given a difficult task to select the 10 to Watch.

The process was "extremely hard," O'Donnell said, adding the best candidates balanced their involvement in their careers and communities. "Strong leaders have that core," she said.

The contest runners-up were Alex Freid, Amanda Kelly, Carey Fitzgerald, Crystal Paradis, Danny Edgecomb, Emmitt Soldati, James Brewer, Jill Sullivan Grueter, John Frank Weaver, Michael Mengers, Nicole Gregg, Quinn Slayton, Sarah Grazier and Sarah Serling. Each one of them — and so many more of the nominees — are worthy of recognition, too.

That's a big reason why we are looking forward to the second 10 to Watch competition in 2015. We believe this contest's impact — led by the great work of the contestants — will carry on for years to come. Stay tuned for more at www.seacoastonline.com/10toWatch.